ROME — Foreign disinformation campaigns have become a permanent feature of Italy’s national security agenda, according to the Italian Parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, which warns that information manipulation is no longer a peripheral challenge but a structural component of today’s threat landscape.
Why it matters: The Italian Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (COPASIR) devoted a dedicated section of its 2025 annual report to “foreign information manipulation and interference” alongside more traditional security issues such as terrorism, organized crime and espionage. The choice reflects a broader shift in how Rome’s intelligence community defines national security.
- The report suggests that influence operations are increasingly viewed as part of hybrid conflict, where information campaigns, cyber activities and geopolitical competition reinforce one another.
The big picture: The document identifies “the main national security profiles linked to disinformation by the Russian Federation and other foreign state actors” as one of the Committee’s key areas of work during 2025.
- While much of the underlying intelligence remains classified, the report makes clear that parliamentary oversight has expanded to include the growing use of information operations by foreign governments. Rather than treating disinformation as a communications issue, the Committee frames it as a security concern requiring continuous monitoring by Italy’s intelligence system.
- That broader approach is reflected throughout the report, which places information manipulation alongside cyber resilience, critical infrastructure, energy security and technological competition.
Zoom in: Monitoring becomes institutionalized. One of the report’s most notable developments concerns the regular flow of information from the government to Parliament.
- Beginning in June 2025, according to the report, the government started providing COPASIR with monthly updates containing intelligence assessments on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) campaigns detected during the reporting period.
- The move institutionalizes parliamentary oversight of influence operations, transforming what could have been occasional briefings into a structured reporting process.
- The report does not disclose operational details or identify specific campaigns, consistent with the Committee’s role and the classified nature of intelligence activities. Instead, it highlights the establishment of a regular monitoring mechanism between the executive and Parliament.
Between the lines: A broader concept of national security. The emphasis on information manipulation reflects a wider evolution in the Committee’s work.
- Throughout the report, security is presented as extending well beyond military or intelligence operations. Digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, strategic industries, energy supply chains and data security all receive dedicated attention.
- Within that framework, disinformation appears as one element of a broader hybrid threat environment, where hostile actors may seek to influence public debate, exploit technological vulnerabilities or undermine institutional resilience through multiple, interconnected tools.
- The Committee does not suggest that these challenges replace conventional security risks. Instead, it places them alongside ongoing concerns ranging from Russia’s war against Ukraine to instability in the Middle East, terrorism and organized crime.
What we’re watching. The report indicates that the government began sharing strategic analyses on major geopolitical developments with COPASIR from February 2025 onward, followed several months later by dedicated monthly reporting on foreign information manipulation campaigns.
- That reporting structure suggests that influence operations are becoming a permanent area of parliamentary scrutiny rather than an issue addressed only during periods of crisis.
- Whether this leads to additional legislative initiatives or new institutional tools remains outside the scope of the report. What is clear is that information warfare has secured a stable place within Italy’s evolving conception of national security.
The bottom line: COPASIR’s annual report offers an important signal about the direction of Italy’s security priorities.
- By placing foreign disinformation alongside cyber threats, critical infrastructure and strategic technologies, the Committee suggests that protecting the country increasingly means defending not only its borders and institutions, but also its information environment.
